After Summer

Pia Fraus is out to prove that the country of Estonia is not some culturally baren wasteland on the Baltic sea. And they succeed. This album tends toward the shogazer genre. Other than the requisite overdriven guitar, you get some keyboard twinkling and guitar arpeggios along with the standard shoegaze beats and rhythms underpinning the whole affair. For shoegaze fanatics, I think this is a must get. Otherwise, it's a nice album that reaches its goals satisfyingly.

Sorry, but this going to come off as a comparative review. I bought this because I really enjoyed the band's earlier stuff, but this was disappointing. The songs are derivative and anything "new" on here doesn't really work for me. I consider myself a big shoegaze fan, but After Summer comes off as just noise sometimes rather than music. Other albums/EPs by the band had multiple catchy songs, and this one lacks a single track I'd want to throw on a playlist. The one bright spot on this album is that the vocals are possibly the best of any of their releases so far, though they've generally been strong. Even as a Pia Fraus fan, I can't recommend After Summer. Each time I give it a chance, I wish I was listening to In Solarium or Nature Heart Software instead and end up resenting this for not being as good.